A nice gentle read about Jo who is taking over a cafe from grandparents so they can retire. Lost of twists and turns along the way but loved the way the book was written. Well done Helen Rolfe, will be looking at her next books

This was such a lovely story and I loved how it was drawn out over the four seasons.

The story begins with Jo coming down to her hometown by the sea to help her grandparents run their cafe on the pier. She soon settles in and makes lots of friends with the locals. She spots that some of her friends are as lonely as she is and embarks on ideas to bring people together. What about her own love life though or lack of?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Books about cafes are my guilty pleasure and I love reading (and envisaging) about all the gorgeous food. The cinnamon rolls in particular sounded delicious.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced read copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

A lovely holiday read, kept me enthralled from the first to the last page! Delightful! Jo helps her grandparents out at the Little Cafe a the End of the Pier and sets out to matchmake organising blind dates of customers who she thinks would suit each other, but will she find love herself. You must read the book to find out for yourself.

This was a sweet enjoyable read about a little cafe at the end of the pier and some matchmaking skills bringing people together.

It had some ups and downs and I did find some chapters very similar and I did jump so e pages as I began to lose interest.

This was a cute read about Jo who takes over The Little Cafe from her grandparents who wanted to retire. I loved the entire setting of this story where small things really mattered like the daily change of menu, the food that was placed on the plate, and the actual detailing of the characters.

Helen Rolfe's writing brought a smile on my face. Jo was everything I like in a main character. It was nice to see her building long lasting relationships over the seasons, she genuinely cared about everything and everybody. Her match-making skills had me wishing that she would do her magic in my life too. The entire world of Salthaven had me longing to shift out there to experience the warmth of all the characters.

Helen Rolfe's book was a cute gentle read, just the right touch I needed between my twisted thrillers.

This was quite a gentle story set around a cafe at the end of a pier in an English seaside town, where Jo takes over the day to day running from her elderly grandparents who want to step back and leave the cafe to her.

As it was a series of five novellas before it has different sections for seasons of the year which I found really nice to read.

Jo takes charge and revamps the cafe, getting it painted and generally redecorating, along with starting a love theme night where she sets up a couple of people she thinks will match one another but might otherwise not meet on blind dates. It's all secret, with little letters left to the two people she's chosen, asking them to come to a meal at the cafe after hours, where they meet one another and have a romantic meal in a part of the cafe that has been set up especially. Some worked, some didn't, but they all joined in with the fun and the love angle worked in other ways with different couples actually getting together.

There were some really lovely characters in the book, along with a few possible love interests for Jo, but you were never quite sure who she would end up with, if anyone!

I really loved how Jo's estranged mother was mentioned as living in Puerto Pollensa too, a beautiful place in Majorca, as my partner and I have holidayed here on multiple occasions and it's one of my very favourite places.

Salthaven sounds like a lovely place to live with a great community spirit. Enjoyable, light-hearted story with a really lovely ending.

I was absolutely thrilled to see ‘The Little Cafe at the end of the Pier’ on Netgalley so of course I just had to request a copy. This is the collection of novellas in one book. I have to honestly admit that this is the first book I have read by Helen, but it certainly won’t be the last. The cover of the book is also beautiful. The narrative is effortless and I especially like how Helen has explained Jo’s backstory through the prologue.

When Jo gets to Salthaven on Sea it is very clear why she is giving up her life in Edinburgh to go help her grandparents, this shows a huge part of her personality early on in the story. She genuinely wants to help them.

I appreciate how much detail Helen goes into about every aspect of the story - the place, each character and even the food! I actually want to go visit the cafe at the end of the pier and to sit and have food and drink with Jo and her friends.

Molly and Arthur are just the most adorable couple. You can tell that by how long they have been together and how much trust they put in Jo to run the cafe. It is great to see more of Jo’s personality come to light the longer she is in Salthaven and her confidence in running the cafe. She wants to help people in any way she can which means always putting herself last.

As I read on I was hooked with suspense. I love how I just had no clue how this story was going to end and as I came to the end of the story I had a smile on my face. ‘The Cafe at the end of the Pier’ certainly gave you all the emotions - suspense, happiness and excitement.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed ‘The Cafe at the end of the Pier’ and I highly recommend you to read this beautifully written story. I will definitely be reading more of Helen’s novels as this had me engrossed from beginning to end. I give ‘The Little Cafe at the end of the Pier’ 5*/5* 😊

Thank you to Orion Publishing Group and Helen Rolfe for the advanced copy via Netgalley.

This book is the combination of the novellas that were published periodically throughout 2018. I am not a big fan of this way of publishing as I much prefer to get stuck right into the story, so I am glad that I picked this as the full novel so I could immerse myself in the Cafe.

Jo's grandparents are struggling with their cafe and with Jo not really finding the love in teaching she offers to come back and give a hand. It is not until she returns to Salthaven that she realises what a mess they are in and the hard work she is facing.

However Jo approaches it all with such enthusiasm that I was immediately transported to the cafe to watch as Jo not only manages to breathe life back into the cafe but the community and also people's love lives. Trouble is she is neglecting her own passions as she enthuses so much about the cafe and helping other people.

Taking us through the seasons, we see Jo embrace the various fruit and vegetables that are delivered daily from Matt at the local farm - if you want to eat seasonally, this book would help! If you want to go on a diet this book is like torture! The food sounds delicious and I could almost smell it cooking as I read on as Jo tries all sorts of interesting combinations.

Steve, the local handyman and hardened surfer whatever the weather is a regular customer and fixer of the cafe and despite his physique eats quite a lot of things he shouldn't.

Jess, the running doctor, always stops by for her smoothie.

Dan and his son Charlie who are struggling without the regular presence of a wife and mother pop in for a regular treat.

Locals, Hilda and Angie think nothing of taking up a table for a game of chess for a good part of the day.

Valerie likes to pop in after her early morning yoga on the beach and then there is lonely, Geoff and his fishing at the end of the pier who always has time for a drink.

The book is full of characters and Jo can see that some of them are well suited to each other and thinks maybe she should play cupid and use her cafe as the perfect setting. Along with some well-timed and themed local events, the cafe is really the place to be but while Jo has settled in well her mother, thinks she is wasting her life but then her mother left Salthaven a long time ago and cannot see the attraction. Jo needs to make her see another side to the place.

With Jo so busy, will she ever have time for her own romance. Well if we leave it up to some of the regulars in the cafe who knows what might happen?

This is a fantastic book, I really enjoyed it and read it quickly as I was captured by the all of the characters, there are a few and they are well-formed and you knew how they fitted into the story and it was all the better for it. The descriptions of the food and baking was out of this world and this book could almost be a recipe book in the making!

I recommend this book whatever the season because there is always something going on at The Little Cafe at the End of the Pier! Join Jo for a coffee and a cake you will not regret it.

I read one of the free little novella's of this novel and really enjoyed it so I was really looking forward to reading the full book. When I saw it on Netgalley I jumped at the request button! The cover is so sweet and sunshiny and just draws you in.

The book itself is really enjoyable, I love Jo's character and I also loved her grandparents - they were so cute! The location of the novel was also idealistic and I fell in love with it.

It's a great story, I loved the different fresh feel of writing, it's a good idea for Jo to be setting other characters up on blind dates but will she ever get the happy ending she wants?

Great overall, a must read this Spring

As a long term fan of Helen Rolfe, I was excited to see what her first book for Orion would bring. I waited patiently for each of the 5 novellas to be released, while crossing my fingers that there would be a combined book. Well finally my waiting paid off and I was able to read the charming The Little Cafe at the End of the Pier.

I can't recall the last time that I read a book and honestly had no idea until right to the end who the main character may end up with romantically. In fact Jo's romantic situation isn't really the main theme of the book, but given there were three men I could potentially see her with, and it was clear she had a secret admirer I was finding myself guessing the whole time.

If there were hints there I didn't really pick up on them, and its rare to have that level of surprise in a book of this genre.

However before all that we have Jo returning to Salthaven, to help out their cafe that is at the end of Salthaven pier. Besides the fabulous location for a cafe, its also rather special as the menu changes each day depending on what fresh produce Matt from the local farm is able to supply.



All of the food sounded delicious, and that is from a non fruit and veg lover, but it was clear that Jo and her grand parents are great cooks and have good imaginations when it comes to menu items that will do well.

Jo does though make her own mark on the Cafe, with her nights of love, where she sets up unsuspecting people on a blind date in the cafe. She has a great eye for who may get on well with who, and I loved those elements of the book.

I also really enjoyed discovering the reason that Jo's mum was estranged from her grandparents, and even seeing a mention of where Sasha lived brought a smile to my face. I used to work in Mallorca, so know where Puerto Pollensa is, and spent a couple of months there, but apart from that I've never really seen any mention of the town, anywhere in fiction or real life since!

This was just a lovely book, full of wonderful characters (the regulars at the cafe), great food, a lovely location, some cool ideas and a secret admirer that I had no clue about. Absolutely loved how the book ended, and each of the the sections could as originally published be able to be read as standalones should you prefer to read a book in smaller parts.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orion for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Loved this book.
Jo is back in Saltburn to run her grandparents cafe. She starts to realise there are lonely people in town and sets about arranging blind dates. Will she get her own happy ever after though?

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the book in exchange for an honest review.
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book by Helen Rolfe, it was a light easy read and very entertaining.
Highly recommended.